Hold Congress Accountable

Knowledge is power. It makes sure people understand what is happening to their country, and how they can make a difference. FreedomWorks University will give you the tools to understand economics, the workings of government, the history of the American legal system, and the most important debates facing our nation today. Enroll in FreedomWorks University today!

Search FreedomWorks

Resources

Key Vote

Key Vote NO on the House's Deal to Fund the Government and ObamaCare

As one of our millions of FreedomWorks members nationwide, I urge you to contact your representative and urge him or her to vote NO on the House leadership's proposed amendment to the Continuing Resolution (H.J.Res.59), which would raise the debt ceiling, fully fund the government, and fully fund ObamaCare, while doing nothing to provide Americans relief from the Washington health care takeover.

ObamaCare is unfair, unaffordable, unnecessary, and -- as its disastrous public roll-out is now showing to an astonished nation -- unworkable. Even before coming into full effect, this disastrous law is already driving up the cost of health care, disrupting people's existing health care coverage, and harming the economy.

Last month, Republicans in the House took a principled stand to defund this law, offering merely to delay it for a year. President Obama, Senator Harry Reid, and congressional Democrats have refused to consider any changes to the unpopular health care law. Now House Republicans are contemplating an amendment that would lift the debt ceiling and fund ObamaCare in return for essentially nothing. It's basically a full surrender to the intransigent Left and another win for the insulated Beltway elites.

The amendment is rumored to be linked, by an oral agreement among insiders, to future bipartisan budget talks that will likely trade higher government spending for unspecified entitlement reforms and, quite likely, additional revenue in a "balanced approach." Only in Washington does a massive grassroots movement to preserve health care freedom turn into a bipartisan framework to increase spending and taxes.

The House leadership amendment contains a provision that would require Members of Congress and their staff to live under ObamaCare on the same terms as other Americans. Requiring Congress to obey the laws it imposes on the rest of us is common sense. Only inside the Beltway would it be considered an achievement. Sensible though it is, it's insufficient. It does nothing to shield the rest of America from a law that is being unfairly implemented and is rapidly proving unworkable.

When we demanded that Congress treat everyone equally under the law, that didn’t mean Congress should make everyone equally miserable under a bad law. Why not work to improve the quality of life for all Americans by at minimum delaying the individual mandate for a year?

For these reasons, I urge you to call your representative and ask him or her to vote NO on the House’s proposed deal to fund the government, ObamaCare and all. We will count their vote as a KEY VOTE when calculating FreedomWorks’ Economic Freedom Scorecard for 2013. The Scorecard is used to determine eligibility for the FreedomFighter Award, which recognizes Members of Congress who consistently vote to support economic freedom.

Downloads

Well take one away from Tom Cotton. I am disappointed that he is already playing games in Washington by putting a spin on his yes vote. He obviously doesn't stand as strong in his vote as in his message. He's lost my vote and we need a challenger that will actually do what's right for America.

Without any significant legislative victories and a frustrated base, Senate Republican leadership and most rank-and-file members of the Republican conference need to take a good, long look in the mirror and ask themselves this question: "What are we doing here?"

Reports continue to come in about the results of implementing ObamaCare. Recently, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released a report on the effectuated enrollment, or in other words selected a plan for the first two months of the year and paid their first month’s premium of ObamaCare. The results were admittedly rather surprising as they did not meet the expectations of where the program was supposed to be at this point.

America’s welfare system is not working. The War on Poverty has failed miserably , and few in Congress have even broached the topic of serious welfare reforms. Members of the House Freedom Caucus have led the way in the this Congress, but, aside from their efforts at real conservative reform, there is little traction for those seeking to make welfare sustainable. Luckily for Americans, Congress doesn’t control their fate, they do.

During his bid for reelection in 2012, then-President Obama tried to defend ObamaCare in a campaign speech, telling his supporters, “[Y]our premiums will go down.” It has been about five years since he said that and they have gone significantly differently than the President intended. Evidence has actually found that the reverse happened and that premium prices went up.